Re-Sparked
by Tavalya Ra

Summary: In the aftermath of the space bridge's collapse, Optimus Prime navigates his crew through jarring revelations, changing relationships, and the unexpected assignment of another team member. Meanwhile, two old threats prepare to return with new plans: Megatron, who has teamed up with Starscream's intelligent and dangerous female clone, and Starscream himself, who is slowly merging with the AllSpark. This is just the prelude. AU: Season Three never happened and doesn't apply.

Rating: R for violence and sex

Warnings: Slash, sex, violence, and bad computer metaphors. Spoilers for the first two seasons of "Transformers Animated". Future installments in the series will have MPreg.

Disclaimer: "Transformers Animated" is owned by Hasbro, who probably doesn't care what I do as long as I keep buying their toys, and by Cartoon Network. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter One: The Remainder

Although Blackarachnia had joined the Deceptions willingly, she had felt it her only option. Former, disreputable enemies were better companions than none at all; tens of stellar cycles alone, mindlessly hunted by the spiders on their native world had taught her that. Life among the Decepticons was surprisingly less rigid and regulated than at the Autobot Academy. Starscream aside, Megatron was more tyrannical towards foe than ally and willing to make allowances for her being- as Blitzwing had once put it- "squishy". While she had helped scavenge and steal parts for her leader's construction project, her presence was not required at the space bridge's activation nor the succeeding invasion of Cybertron. She took advantage of her master's liberal attitude towards her with her absence. Knowing that the Autobots would be distracted by the planned crisis, she decided to use the time to conduct her usual, less-than-scrupulous research into purging her body of its organic half.

She was on Dinobot Island, scouring for some remains of Meltdown to blackmail, when the explosion rocked the ground beneath her and knocked her onto her aft. A crash of blue warped the sunlight and wind ripped past her, its powerful rush only a fraction of the force and fury of the gales at the epicenter. Her stomach- revoltingly, she had one- plummeted. Something had gone wrong. She hadn't particularly cared one way or another about Megatron's latest scheme- that wasn't why she was with the Decepticons- yet now she felt a smothering horror: something had been lost, something greater than a single battle or plot gone awry. She clutched at the dirt, fearing the gusts would intensify and almost screamed for Grimlock. He would save her, that sweet, simple, stupid lug of scrap that barely passed for an Autobot. A surge of self-awareness filled and disgusted her. She couldn't even protect herself- but had she ever been so capable? If Elita-1 had been so much stronger, would she really have become Blackarachnia?

Balled lightning rippled backwards onto itself, imploding and belching out a wave of pressure. The impact pressed on her paneling, pinching her in the few places where she had fleshy parts beneath. Then the roar of the vortex ceased and the island lay quiet- too quiet for a refuge of wild tangles of nature. The birds, she realized, had fled and the wake of the explosion had left the Dinobots subdued.

Nausea roiled in her. Something had gone wrong; that noxious certainty was the extent of what she knew. She transformed to spider mode and skittered back to the boat she had taken, to sail back to the pier and return to the carbon mines. Home, dreary and hated, but home at this moment. She already knew what she would find, but held the idea suspended in denial until she walked up on the lip of the ruins, the pit of rubble in the ground where there had once been a mountain.

Blackarachnia fell onto her knees. Revelations slammed her processor. The Decepticon base was gone. Her base was gone. Her allies were gone. She'd loathed them and they'd regularly sneered or flinched at her, but they'd still fought for each other. Lugnut had distrusted her and Blitzwing had taunted her, but they had protected her anyway simply for the emblem at her throat. Now they were offline.

Now she was alone.

She raised her servos to the sides of her helmet and screamed. She couldn't be alone- not again! She didn't need some bot always by her side, but she did need one behind her: someone that, whether in victory or shame and agony, she could limp back to him and there would be shelter. Being an Autobot meant fitting into the vaunted mold, but being a Decepticon meant that. She could endure without friends or love- for so many stellar cycles she had- but not alone on an alien world that hated her.

Whipping whirrs tore through the air behind her: copter blades. Humans, like Decepticons, were deadliest with aerial attacks. Panic arced through her- already, the creatures of this world pursued her, pouncing on the opportunity to purge the Earth of any survivors. Gripped with a choking hopelessness, she turned to face the natives' soulless machines. Yet the military planes warped forms in the sky to land as Lugnut and Blitzwing.

Cool-faced, Blitzwing stated blandly, "Blackarachnia. I see you are online." His face rotated to one of anger. "Where were you when-"

"Silence!" snapped Lugnut in irritation. "Megatron told her to stay away for her safety- she obeyed Megatron!"

Lugnut coming to her defense- strange, but her world had been flung inside out again, after all. That she despised Lugnut and Blitzwing mattered little. She had companions once more and relief dizzied her.

"Where is Megatron?" she asked breathily- how she hated needing to breath, that deprivation of air could kill her when she'd once raced on bare moons with Optimus and Sentinel.

"The Autobot scum! It was a dirty move!" bellowed Blitzwing- then he went crazy. "If I knew a Decepticon that big, I'd teach him to tap dance and destroy in style!"

In response to the cryptic retort, she looked towards Lugnut, who slumped and replied, "We do not know. Nor do we know what became of the Starscreams after Omega Supreme blasted us. We dug Mixmaster and Scrapper from the ruins, but no one else- and they are offline."

"The Starscreams? Omega Supreme?" she repeated, dazed by the information that Lugnut offered without any accompanying explanation. That the Constructicons were dead did not faze her. She had barely known them and her single encounter with them had involved some unforgivable and unrepeatable comments directed at her aft. "What's going on? What are we…?"

What do we do now? Megatron was gone. That reality thudded her, more forcefully than it had the first time fifty stellar cycles ago, when she had yet to make contact with- and enemies upon- Earth. She had a stake in this disgustingly organic planet, but now the Decepticons would again splinter and scatter undirected; the quest for the AllSpark would be lost, if not forgotten altogether. What now?

Blitzwing, cool-headed again, lowered himself to offer a servo- not out of friendship, but solidarity. They were both Decepticons, united by the scorn and rejection of the Autobots. "We may be the only ones left in this sector. We do not know if Megatron is online-"

"Nor that he is offline!" Lugnut reminded boisterously. "He is online. As before, I feel it. And before, I was right-"

"Ooo, you two must be spark-linked! And without cables!" chimed Blitzwing, briefly crazy before going calm again. "We need to find shelter. Blend in for now and then contact the other resistance cells to determine if they know more. It is possible Megatron escaped the collapse of our base through the space bridge. For now, we wait."

Blackarachnia lifted herself with the leverage of Blitzwing's servo. Her future was uncertain, but she was not alone and her cohorts had a plan. These were conditions under which she could abide. She could continue to nurture her frail sparks of hope that she would one day be normal again- but for now she followed Blitzwing and Lugnut into the woods, prepared to accept and aid in whatever their designs.

"Sari… we need to talk."

Yet Professor Sumdac's sorely required heart-to-heart- or heart-to-whatever Sari actually possessed- wasn't what happened next. Sari needed repair and a hospital clearly would not suffice. The Autobots returned to Sumdac Tower. Optimus nudged Sari to ride in Bumblebee, hoping her closest friend's surrounding presence would sooth her, and took the Professor into his own cab. During the trip everyone was quiet. No one seemed jubilant over Megatron's defeat. It had come at a price too dear and shaking; Optimus suspected that many of the consequences of today's battle would not become apparent until much later. Although he felt he ought to interrogate Sumdac, he couldn't think of what to ask. His processor was running sluggish from so many threads of anxiety active at once. He did what he knew was pragmatic: identified the immediate task and mobilized to accomplish it. Right now, that was fixing Sari.

Unfortunately, they'd forgotten that Sumdac Tower wasn't Sumdac anymore. It was Powell Tower and Porter C. Powell personally stormed into the lobby to declare the building off-limits to Autobots. Before Sumdac could leave Optimus' cab and assert his legal ownership of the premises, Ratchet reverted to robot mode and declared, "I've dragged my wheels through too much slag today to put up with any more from you!"

Considering Powell only landed painfully on his bum rather than break every bone in his body when he hit the sidewalk, Ratchet was rather gentle in drop-kicking the man out of the tower. A moment later, the medi-bot's rash decision backfired as Optimus' antenna picked up a signal from Powell's cell phone.

"Hello? Is this Captain Fanzone? No? Good. The Autobots have gone rogue! They've invaded Powell Tower- send back up, send the National Guard- hell, jump over the pond and call the Mounties, just get the biggest guns you've got immediately!"

Ratchet rumbled, his left servo twitching.

Prowl tapped the side of his head, activating his external comm link. "I advise we contact Captain Fanzone. Despite his aversion to Earth's technological advances, he regards us favorably, myself in particular."

"Do it," said Optimus.

Thus began the siege of Sumdac/Powell Tower, not an arduous task but one that seemed like a cruel joke given their previous battle barely a megacycle ago. The Autobots were weary, their sparks dim; Optimus saw their dejection in Ratchet's fierce and pained expression, Bumblebee's forlorn disorientation, and Bulkhead's quiet resignation- Prowl was no doubt affected, too, but his faceplate was stoic as ever. Professor Sumdac activated the tower's force field. Bumblebee and Prowl, both small enough to fit through the upper levels' corridors, escorted him and Sari to his private lab and then worked on ejecting any adversaries. Human workers were roughly directed downstairs and out the doors to join Powell, sparkless guard robots were simply chucked through the windows. Eventually, the S.W.A.T. units arrived and Prowl was recalled to converse with Fanzone, explain the situation and negotiate an exit that wouldn't transform the Autobots into public enemy number one.

Cycles later, Prowl reentered the tower. "Powell is demanding proof that Professor Sumdac is alive. Fanzone suggests we comply. If we do, they'll summon a type of specialized civic arbitrators called 'lawyers' to resolve this."

Optimus didn't ask why involving yet another party was necessary; he didn't understand the strange Earth customs that had ripped control of Sumdac Systems from Sari. "Alright, if Sari's repaired get the professor down here. Let's make this quick. We have other tasks to accomplish, foremost returning to base to contact Ultra Magnus. We don't know where in the universe Megatron is- the Elite Guard has to be warned." And he didn't even know which Decepticons- if any- were still on Earth, who was or was not online.

Elita… He aborted the code of thought. No time now- and no hope.

Via elevator, Professor Sumdac returned to the lobby. His left arm was circled protectively around Sari, who was clutching herself and shaking. She looked at Bumblebee, fluid leaking from her eyes, and warbled, "My room! It's not the same! They completely changed my room!"

The professor patted her gently. "There, there, Sari. It will be alright. We can change it back-"

She rushed away from him to grab Bumblebee's foot. The Autobot responded by carefully scooping her into his hands, holding them as a cradle for her to sit.

With a weary look, Sumdac turned to Optimus and said, "She's just… dealing. As best she can. She's overwhelmed. So much has happened in the last hour, so many troubling things…"

"Yes," Optimus agreed flatly. "We've all learned new, troubling things."

"Ah…" Sumdac coughed into his hand. "I will go speak with Captain Fanzone."

Optimus followed Sumdac's departure with his optical lenses. The man had rebuilt Megatron- and maybe he had been tricked, but he had still lied about Megatron's presence in his lab. He had disappeared and reemerged with Megatron, had during that period aided Megatron… and maybe it had all been under duress. What was a mere human against a Decepticon? Yet Optimus thought of Sari and knew that she would have resisted. He felt a great affection for her, the smallest and most capricious member of his crew. He'd been on Earth just long enough to know she was special. Now she was crying because of a hurt that Sumdac had caused and so Optimus felt rather incapable of pity for the professor.

"Don't worry, Sari. You've got your room at the base. You can always stay with us!" Bumblebee chimed. "We'll always be here…"

No, we won't, Optimus thought somberly. With Megatron removed from their proximity, the search for the AllSpark fragments would dominate their focus and progress swiftly. Sooner rather than later, their mission would be complete and the Elite Guard would recall them to Cybertron, where they might be hailed as heroes. The idea depressed him. We're all here, all online, and we were victorious. So why do I feel like I'm running on empty?

A megacycle of waiting passed: everyone- even Bumblebee- quiet, placidly alert for the next strike as if they anticipated some lethal attempt. The tension, Optimus thought, was ridiculous. The humans weren't going to hurt them; the means which humans possessed that could hurt Autobots were too extreme for this situation. Yet he nonetheless felt a frizzle through his circuits; he lacked control and had a discomforting level of uncertainty.

Prowl returned and reported, "The lawyers informed me that completing their arbitration could take as long as a stellar cycle-"

"A stellar cycle!" Ratchet exclaimed in indignation. "That's obscene! We can't wait in here for a tenth of a stellar cycle-"

"But!" announced Prowl, raising his volume to cut off Ratchet's auditory stream, "At the present, they have agreed to return control of the tower to Professor Sumdac, provided we give Powell a megacycle to gather and remove his possessions. Captain Fanzone and the professor will accompany him to ascertain he doesn't take anything that isn't strictly his own. Most of the police force has already departed."

"I don't suppose anyone asked for our say in this," Optimus commented.

"The lawyers do not consider us a party to the conflict. Since the tower is Sumdac's again and he approves of our presence, they don't care what we do so long as we don't provoke any hostilities with Powell."

"Provoke? I'm not going to provoke him," said Bumblebee. "I'll flatten him under my tires so fast he won't have time to be provoked!"

When Powell reentered the tower- in the escort of Sumdac, Fanzone, and several other police members, as the lawyers had promised- he did not acknowledge the Autobots, but walked directly past them with a disdainful sniff. Such recognition was fine with Optimus. He needed no closure with Powell and was satisfied to watch this sadly contemptible example of humanity leave his lifecycle. How fortunate that the Autobots had met people like Sari and Fanzone first, to understand the value and worthiness of the life they protected- but he would have protected the Earth regardless. It was his calling.

What to do about Sari? Optimus glanced towards her and saw her still huddled in Bumblebee's hands, not making eye contact with anyone. He knew that she had been distressed over Sumdac's disappearance and had wanted more than anything to have her father back and safe- had. During the last interaction he had witnessed between them Sari had looked at the professor with horrified betrayal. Optimus felt he should intervene- he felt that Sari belonged to him as did any of his crew- but realized he'd probably violate a dozen more Earth customs he didn't understand. Parent-child bonds, as he observed them, were unquestionably respected under most circumstances and without some official dispensation ignoring them was taboo. If he wanted to do so, even questioning as to how to proceed required delicacy.

After a little more than the megacycle which Prowl had specified, Powell marched from the tower in the same fashion as he'd entered. No one said anything, but Optimus heard an engine rev and turned his head in time to catch Bumblebee's narrowed optics follow the man out the door. The contingent of police went with him, but Fanzone remained behind. The police chief gave the room a visual scan, then turned to Sumdac and said, "I'd like to have a word with you, Professor. In private."

Fanzone's tone was both skeptical and judgmental, which activated Optimus' curiosity. Giving a gesture to the others to remain in place, he followed the two men as they moved to a more sequestered section of the lobby. The clanking of his feet naturally caught Fanzone's attention and the chief responded with a turn-around and wary look.

"Do you mind?"

"No disrespect intended, Captain Fanzone, but yes, I do," Optimus said. "Anything related to today's events may very well be a matter of Autobot security. Our destiny- it seems- is closely linked to the Sumdac family."

Sumdac lowered his eyes, while Fanzone responded with a slight growl and head-shake.

"The only thing I hate more than machines is mystic-type mumbo-jumbo. So don't talk to me about 'destiny'. But this does concern Sari and she seems important to you- in more ways that I think is safe or healthy for an eight-year-old girl. I guess you have a right to hear whatever the good professor has to say- provided you can keep your mouth shut afterwards, do you understand?"

"You mean this conversation is classified," Optimus said.

"More than classified- off-record," he emphasized. "Never happened."

"Understood." What Fanzone meant anyway, not why the man felt secrecy was necessary.

Fanzone chose a spot he felt distant enough from the doors. Optimus knelt to put his auditory sensors in closer range of the men's voices. The captain spoke first, turning to Sumdac and asking, "So… why exactly are there no legal records of your daughter?"

Bringing his hands together to nervously tap his fingers, Sumdac muttered, "It was an… oversight. I meant to have…"

"A birth certificate is something the hospital would have filled out. Just like registering for social security. We don't even have documentation that her homeschooling is up to Michigan's standards, let alone doctor's charts or dental records… nothing." Fanzone squinted and leaned down, bearing over Sumdac. "Just who is that little girl?"

Sumdac looked up and declared with unexpected fierceness, "My daughter."

"But can you prove it?"

"I will gladly submit her and myself to a comparative DNA test if that's what it takes- I do not appreciate the implication that I snatched her or- or something!"

Fanzone backed away and his tone gentled. "Professor, I'm just doing my job. No, actually, I'm not doing my job. What I should do is turn your daughter over to DSS until this is all sorted out. Instead, I'm covering for you- I'm putting my reputation on the line. So show me a little trust here. I can still turn around and play this like I should- tell me why my gut says I shouldn't."

Moments passed- Sumdac's failure to provide an immediate response doing little to assuage Optimus- before the man answered, "I have done nothing wrong. Nothing… abusive or illegal. I was negligent in not seeing to Sari's paperwork, but that's the only thing. I've always done what's best for her… or tried. I tried…"

"Really?" Fanzone was dubious. "Right now, I don't think anybody's innocent. Nobody's looked too closely at the home life Sari has, but now that I do, I'm finding a very strange picture. Home-schooled, no social interaction besides you and some alien robots-"

"That is not true," Sumdac insisted. "You make it sound like she's isolated and I forbid her to do normal things. She loves this city, she's always exploring some place-"

"But you haven't exactly given her foundations for a normal life."

"Normal is in the eye of the beholder and quite overrated. She is happy and safe and-"

"No, Sumdac, she's not," Fanzone snapped. "She was. Then you disappeared and she got kicked out of her home and there was nothing anyone could legally do about it because on paper she doesn't exist! So here's what I don't get- how was she even in a position to not have paperwork? I…" Abruptly, the police chief stopped. He sighed and shook his head, gestures that Optimus recognized as signs of fatigue- not necessarily of body, but sometimes weariness of mind or disheartenment. "I can't believe I'm going to ask this. A year ago, it'd've never occurred to me to ask this, but that was before Detroit became Robot Roswell. So not 'who' is my question. What is Sari?"

The professor turned his face away and clutched his arm with his other hand. The lobby again became unnervingly quiet; all Optimus heard was the white static of his own processor as he waited, anticipating the answer.

Persisted Fanzone, "She's not a normal little girl-"

"She's not an experiment," Sumdac interrupted. "The process that made her, yes, but not her. And she is human. And she is my daughter. As for whatever else, I'd rather not say until I've explained it to her. It is her right to know before anyone else. Anything I've done, it was always to protect her. You don't need to tell me, Captain Fanzone, how badly I've failed at that. I already know."

Optimus felt an uncomfortable wave of empathy. He'd felt the same before and that incident, too, had involved Sari: crushing her spirit and thrusting her into peril when his objective had been everyone's best welfare. Now, he was only more anxious to know the truth behind her and if Sumdac deserved another chance.

"Mmph." The sound Fanzone released fell between a groan and a sigh. "I know… of people who can help you with the problem of paperwork. But if anything, even just a whiff, gets out-"

"I can be discreet."

Fanzone opened his eyes from their usual squint. His gaze could not be described as piercing, but it was scrutinizing- deep. "I want you to understand something. When you disappeared and Powell took over, things changed. I don't mean with your company. The city got a little dirtier, a little meaner. And every day, it got a little worse. This place, Sumdac Systems, it's become the heart of Detroit. I didn't realize that until you were gone." He turned to Optimus. "You're my backup on this. If I'm wrong, if anything goes wrong, I expect to hear it from you on my phone."

"You mean concerning Sari?" Optimus inquired for clarification. While he respected Fanzone, he saw no reason to confer with the man about Cybertron's affairs.

"Right. Remember, she's a little girl, not your mystic spirit pet or wizard doctor or whatever." He pointed his finger and waggled it. "A little girl."

Optimus didn't know what most of the terms Fanzone had used meant, but he had some idea- and he suspected that Sari was not one of those, she was in some way all of those. She was all but an Autobot, she had been chosen by the AllSpark… and she was a child, which made bringing war into her life unconscionable and cruel. But she would want to fight whether Optimus could shield her from conflict or not because that was who she was.

Departing, the captain left Optimus and Sumdac together in uneasy company. The little man clasped his hands and shuffled his feet; the Autobot watched, again undetermined as to what to ask. There was too much to ask.

Eventually, Sumdac said, "Thank you for taking care of Sari when I couldn't."

"You're welcome," Optimus vocalized softly, although doing so had never been a favor for Sumdac. "Sari's become dear to all of us. We will always defend her." He stopped, considering his next words and the tone in which he would speak carefully. Reassurance was what he wanted from Sumdac, not to give him. He continued, "From anything." Then, harshly, "And anyone."

A slight, almost stifled gasp conveyed that Sumdac had assimilated the intended meaning of his statement. The professor trembled slightly and stared at Optimus with a look that rattled his mechanism. "No! I know what you are thinking- you can't take Sari away! You cannot!"

The expression- the emotion Sumdac expressed to Optimus, the Autobot as its focus and cause- was fear. Optimus had never thought a human who understood who and what he was would look upon him that way, in the same regard as they did Megatron. He felt both guilty and monstrous.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "But I don't trust you. You weren't open with us about what you really knew when we first awoke on this planet, you've worked very closely to Megatron- we know you helped him. We can't over look that."

"I didn't want to help him! I had no choice-"

"I can't hold against you feeling that way or acting accordingly- if that was the case…"

"Why would I want to help him?" Sumdac insisted, his wide eyes still alarmed and now also imploring. "Please. My only thoughts were of seeing Sari again. You cannot take her away."

Truly Optimus did not want to separate them, but he was uncertain of what was best for Sari and for everyone. Earlier today the proper actions had been clear: follow Blurr into the carbon mines, fight Megatron, fight Starscream- everyone he had needed to fight was branded, obvious. Yet months ago, when given little by which to navigate his course, his decisions had added to the chaos and strife and Megatron had nearly succeeded in claiming the AllSpark. The choice he weighed now wouldn't determine if someone lived or died, but it would bear upon the future- shape Sari's future even after the AllSpark fragments were gathered and the Autobots departed from this organic world.

"I need assurance," he said. "What is Sari?"

Shaking his head, Sumdac insisted, "Let me tell Sari first. She may want to tell you herself. That is her right. It isn't that I'm unwilling to tell you, I just feel that is the best way."

"I will be watching."

"That doesn't bother me. If I've learned- really learned- anything from Megatron, it's that both of our worlds would be safer if I linked my affairs with yours." The professor no longer appeared scared, but his carriage and visage remained tense. "He… compelled my technical expertise for his goals. There's no reason I couldn't help you in the same way, willingly."

At the offer, Optimus found himself balking. Contemplating how Sumdac had aided their enemies destabilized his already tentative, mostly forced conviction in the professor's goodness and he did not like the man turning to him as a supplicant. Leadership and power were vastly different things and Sumdac presently acted as if Optimus possessed the latter- which was not true and not something Optimus wanted to be true.

"Later would be better to discuss that," he said, dodging the issue. "I need to send a report to my commander, Ultra Magnus. Can I leave Sari with you?"

"I'm her father. I should hope you could leave Sari with me."

For now, Optimus would have to believe so. They returned to his crew to transfer Sari from Bumblebee's servos to her father's arms and for Optimus to give his Autobots the traditional mobilizing command: transform and roll out.